Normally, electric components are identified by visual inspection of identification data printed on labels, directly on the component, or similarly. However, it is desirable to provide automatic identification of a particular circuit as belonging to a class of circuits. For example, it is desirable to automatically identify a particular circuit as being one of a particular class upon placing the circuit into a test apparatus, such that the test apparatus is able to select appropriate test signals or other test conditions to apply to the circuit for test, evaluation, or calibration purposes. This would eliminate the requirement that the operator independently identify the type of circuit being tested, which in turn would reduce the chance of error in such procedures.
As is well known, integrated circuits employing complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) elements must be shielded from any static electricity on any circuit to which they are connected because CMOS elements are easily destroyed by electric charge. Accordingly, in the design of a connector device for use with CMOS circuits, it is desirable that means be provided to ground any static electricity appearing either on the connector itself or on the circuits to be connected to avoid catastrophic damage to the CMOS elements. As is known in the art, CMOS elements are advantageously used in test circuits because of their favorable operating characteristics in the amplification of low-level signals.